Earlier this month, movement along the Nile River was restricted to the Upper Nile State. The International Red Cross has responded by airlifting food to hard-to-reach communities. You can imagine once large bags of grain are dropped in, there is still the logistical difficulty of carrying such food back to the village. Some people walked for more than 6 hours to reach the drop zone. If you are already nutrition deprived, such a challenge can be debilitating. A UN news account announced that food aid finally reached communities in the north of South Sudan last week, where difficulties have continued since March.

South Sudan appears only slightly propped up by emergency responses of several large and well-funded international organizations. What would the situation be like if these organizations were not involved at all? Would the world take more or less notice? Images that flood the internet about Syrians fleeing conflict across the Mediterranean Sea make me wonder what it takes to stop the ongoing conflicts? What it takes for the world to collectively say no - this is not happening anymore - agree to disagree and leave the people out of it, instead of the world collectively saying yes - this continues to happen - and it is not our problem.

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Author

Dr. Jennifer Veilleux researches human security issues surrounding internationally shared water resources and development. Veilleux has conducted field research on securing water resources in North America, Africa, Asia, and Europe. She currently works in the Mara River Basin, Tanzania and the Missouri River Basin, USA for Florida International University's Institute for Water and the Environment.